New York, NY— A jury acquitted three New York Police Department (NYPD) officers who were accused of sodomizing a suspect with a baton in a subway station on Monday, February 23, 2010. The suspect subsequently filed a lawsuit against the city for $440 million, as reported by USA Today.

The NYPD officers, Richard Kern, Andrew Morales and Alex Cruz were accused of violating a suspect who ran from the officers for smoking marijuana with a police baton on October 15, 2008. The officers reportedly chased the suspect into the Brooklyn subway station and handcuffed him. The deputies then allegedly sodomized him a police baton, threw him into the squad car, then apparently got nervous about what they had done and tried to offer him a pay-out to keep him silence before letting him go, even though he had a warrant for his arrest. The suspect, Michael Mino, who had proclaimed to be a member of the Crips gang, been arrested numerous times, and has admitted to smoking marijuana regularly; spent several days in the hospital after the altercation. Soon after Mineo returned to the hospital to receive treatment for an abscess.

During the trial, a transit system police officer that had witnessed the altercation, testified in behalf of the prosecution, but Kern maintained “no sexual assault took place.” The officers stated that they didn’t arrest the suspect because “collars for marijuana possession were a low priority for the department.” The defense doctor stated that a pre-existing medical condition that Mineo has could explain the abscess, and that the alleged actions by the police officers would have made the injuries more severe. If convicted Kern would had faced up to 25 years in prison for aggravated sexual abuse, and Morales and Cruz would have faced up to four years in prison for hindering prosecution. The jurors reported that they had found reasonable doubt, thus acquitting the NYPD officers.